There has been, down through the ages, a very real and "purposeful" conspiracy to thwart the plans of God.
The denial of Christ has less to do with facts and more to do with the bent of what a person is prejudiced to conclude.
His life spells living. Your life or my life, apart from Him, spells death.
God thundered again and again through the prophets that worship in the context of mistreatment of the poor and disadvantaged is an outrage.
Passion is a far better prioritizer than any organization system. Soul refreshment comes from SEEING glory – not getting stuff done.
There is a core difference between sharing the gospel with the lost and imposing a specific moral standard on the unconverted.
Christians are notorious for acting like used car salesmen, treating non-Christians as if they’re standing there holding a blank check and sporting a hard-on for unreliable vehicles.
These days she tended to think of herself as a Heisenbergian Christian: she believed in the broad outlines of Christianity, but she was unable to pinpoint the specifics of her creed. She was OK with the wave; it was the particles that tended to escap...
Just as there is no such thing as Christian physics or Muslim Algebra, we will see tht there is no such thing as Christian or Muslim morality.
I must first have the sense of God's possession of me before I can have the sense of His presence with me.
We all have the same Christ dwelling within, but revelation of some new need will lead us spontaneously to trust Him to live out His life in in that particular.
Man's thought is always of the punishment that will come to him if he sins. God's thought is always of the glory man will miss if he sins. God's purpose for redemption is glory, glory, glory.
Enemy-occupied territory---that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.
I also came to understand that our authenticity (or lack thereof) is made evident by the fruit that our life is bearing.
In every historical period, the religious groups that grow most rapidly are those that set believers at odds with the surrounding culture.
Casey was a faithful Christian filled with the spirit of the Christ; George is a hypocrite who says he is a Christian but then murders our brothers and sisters indiscriminately.
...American psychology effectively guaranteed its place as a cultural icon by helping to create the pathologies it simultaneously promised to treat. (p. 37)
Christianity has been successfully attacked and marginalized… because those who professed belief were unable to defend the faith from attack, even though its attackers’ arguments were deeply flawed.
So be satisfied and quiet, be contented with your contentment. I lack certain things that others have, but blessed be God, I have a contented heart which others have not.
Her model of self-control with food is why I have never had an issue in this area. Praise God for my mom's good example in how to eat.
God doesn't want your careful virtue, He wants your reckless generosity.
